8 Miles...eh...that was Nothin'

So, I was trying to decide what my theme song should be for this run - either Eminem's Lose Yourself (from the 8 Mile Soundtrack) or Celine Dion's All By Myself. The former is an obvious choice...today was my 8 miler and I just so happen to have the song on my iPod shuffle (though it never did actually shuffle itself into my ear drums to further motivate my movement). The latter may not seem such an obvious choice until you find out that my running buddy, sometimes referred to as younger sister, Linda, abandoned me. I thought the image of my running at the park with mascara smeared down my cheeks from the tears would be a little too much for the other runners, the walkers, the soccer players, and the dogs to bear, so I opted for my theme song to be Lose Yourself (hence the pic).

After an obnoxiously interrupted night's sleep with 2 naughty naughty dogs (do you think The Nanny does dog duty?), I woke up an hour and a half later than initially scheduled to venture out into the unknown...otherwise referred to as 8-mile land...all by myself.

A few things I tried to implement differently. First and foremost, because I religiously read That Pink Girl's blog and want to be just like her (but not in a crazy stalker kind of way) I decided to go against my diet (sorta) by using a supplement during my run. I was dragging during last week's run towards that latter part and thought that for the 8 miler it might be time to supplement for performance sake. That Pink Girl uses Cliff's Shot Bloks, so I decided to give them a whirl (in orange). I'm not gonna lie...it was a bit difficult because I was purposely putting "manufactured" carbs and sugar in my system, BUT I knew I would be burning a lot of calories (1215, to be exact) and getting a great workout and that it was truly providing my body with the fuel it needed to carry onward. So I'm guessing you are wondering if I noticed a difference??? Well...actually, I did...at least I think I did unless it was mental and with me you never know! haha! This 8 didn't seem as hard as last week's 7, that is for real! The other thing I did differently was I made sure I actually properly hydrated myself during my run. Linda kinda yells at me because I'm bad about this. I have a tendency, as I believe I've mentioned before, to fake hydration by chewing gum. Last week there were "angels" at the park handing out ice cold bottles of water to the runners. I had only brought one 32 oz. bottle of Powerade Zero out there with me, so their gift felt as though it was sent down from above. I decided I needed to be more responsible - especially in this increasing heat and humidity, so I refrigerated my Powerade Zero (in grape cuz that's the best) and then I froze two bottles of water to keep them cool. I have a cooler, but I'm afraid to take it out to the park with me....I don't trust park people enough yet. So far they haven't let me down with the whole drink thing, but a cooler might be pushing it.

Even though I have my trusty sidekick Garmin with me, I still wanted to plan out my strategy for the run so as to get to 8 miles without having a whole lot of trail left to finish. I figured it meant 3 long laps and 2 short ones and I thought it best to do them in that order. After each lap, I swung past my picnic table for hydration.

Overall, I'm pleased with my performance today. I will spend 2 more weeks on 8 miles before moving up to 9, so that gives me some more time to get more comfortable with the distance and to improve my time.

After a much needed shower, I dressed and met the fam for our famous Saturday Family Lunch (at Willie's Ice House this week) and then convinced the girl who made me a latch-key runner this morning to accompany me to my parent's pool (since I had convinced our mother to heat it despite the less than favorable forecast). We relaxed mostly in the spa (ahhhh...those jets upon my knots felt horrific and marvelous at the same time, if you can imagine that) and then I braved the less warm, but still decently heated pool floating in my lounger.

So here is what I learned...I'm a runner and I CAN do this! Whenever I have my doubts, I will remember where I started and look at how far I've come....there is the proof in the pudding!

The very last line of Lose Yourself is as follows: "You can do anything you set your mind to, man." Wise words, my friends...wise words indeed.